Back to 5K! And a Face Plant!

   It's the weekend again and today looked like it was going to be kind of rainy so I took the opportunity to get out yesterday and give it a go at running 5K on the trails.
   Once again I headed to Komoka Provincial Park, have finally found a little place at the far end of the park where you don't have to pay the parking fee so Komoka is now a more affordable option.

Passing through a grassy meadow.
It looks flat but is actually pretty steep.

   There were, however, drops of rain on my windshield by the time I arrived and off in the distance the skies were pretty threatening so I wasn't quite sure how dry this run was really going to be. No raingear with me but it was unseasonably warm so I headed out anyway.
   Once again, I briskly walked the first half a kilometer to get warmed up and then I started a slow run. A very slow run. It was the kind of run where you can actually have a fairly lengthy conversation with walkers as you sort of pass them. Yes, that kind of run.... 
   I am, however, much more interested in accumulating some mileage these days and seeing how my injured right knee holds up. At some point, the speed with which I run will be addressed.
   I ran in Komoka last week and I really didn't want to replicate the same run today so when I reached the junction of the Blue and White trails, I headed off on the Blue. This takes you up and down a few steep sections, so I quickly began to wonder if I'd made the right decision. In the end, though, I figured it was all part of the process.
   I ran with trekking poles once again yesterday, as I'm now accustomed to doing. I got used to them on my hiking adventures this past summer and find that they provide a little more stability on some of the more technical terrain. In my mind, they also enable me to imagine that I am some sort of badass mountain trail runner. On level parts of the trail, I

Some of the scenery at the west (and
less-traveled) end of the park.

simply carry them in my hand. I'm starting to become fairly adept at switching back and forth and moving quickly (for me) up and down rocky slopes. What much of this means is that in a park where most of the people are either walking their dogs or spending romantic time with their significant other, I really stand out. And that's fine, kinda enjoy doing my own thing!
   Just before the end of the running portion yesterday, I passed one of those romantic couples I just mentioned, going the other way. I was about 10 meters past them when my toe snagged on a root and I landed hard. The noise of this (imagine a tree falling in a forest) alerted the romantic couple and they turned around to see me lying there in a heap. They asked if I was okay. I assured them I was and that only my pride was slightly bruised. I also swore them to secrecy and they were fine with that. It was my right (and injured) knee that took the brunt of the fall and I was quite happy to see and feel that there were no ill effects suffered. Good to know, actually, it confirmed in a new and different way that the knee is continuing to heal the way I need it to.
   

The aftermath. All is well, though!

So my 5K trail run is in the books and the good news is that I could quite easily have continued. The knee is a little swollen today but is not paining me at all and did not pain me yesterday as I ran, so this is good. My plan is to try and incorporate some kind of run mid-week this week so that I end up running more then just once a week. The other good thing that occurred to me about having run 5K yesterday is that it is an actual race distance. You quite often hear people talk about how their 5K run went and it is simply nice knowing that I am once again back to that level. Onward and upward!